United States Environmental Protection Agency
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
Office of Solid Waste, OSW (Note: Office of Solid Waste, OSW, was renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009)(5305W)
EPA530-F-01-023
October 2001
Environmental Fact Sheet: Three Inorganic Chemicals Now Listed as
Hazardous Wastes
EPA adds three new wastes from inorganic chemical manufacturing
processes to the list of hazardous waste. Regulating these chemical
wastes will protect human health and the environment by eliminating
potential pathways of exposure.
Background
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires EPA
to determine if wastes are hazardous. EPA identifies hazardous
wastes in two ways. A waste may be hazardous if it exhibits certain
properties (called "characteristics") that pose threats to human health
and the environment or if it is included on a specific list of wastes
EPA evaluated. EPA "lists" a waste as hazardous when the Agency
determines that it poses unacceptable risks to the environment or
people.
EPA conducted extensive investigations of wastes from the inorganic
chemical manufacturing industry. We reviewed specific sectors
within the industry including: antimony oxide, barium carbonate, boric
acid, cadmium pigments, inorganic hydrogen cyanide, phenyl
mercuric acetate, phosphoric acid from the dry process, phosphorus
pentasulfide, phosphorus trichloride, potassium dichromate, sodium
chlorate, sodium dichromate, sodium phosphate from wet process
phosphoric acid, and titanium dioxide. In September, 2000, after
making detailed assessments of the waste streams from these
sectors, EPA proposed to list three of them as hazardous waste.
EPA took extensive comment on the proposed rulemaking. After
considering the comments, EPA is making the hazardous waste
listings final with modification to the K178 listing.
ACTION
The Administrator signed a final rule on October 31, 2001 to add
three new wastes to the K-coded list of hazardous wastes regulated
under RCRA (40 CFR 261.32). K-code wastes come from
specialized manufacturing processes, such as those found in the
inorganic chemical manufacturing industry. The three wastes are:
K176 Baghouse filters from the production of antimony oxide,
including filters from the production of intermediates (e.g.,
antimony metal or crude antimony oxide)
K177 Slag from the production of antimony oxide that is
speculatively accumulated or disposed, including slag from
the production of intermediates (e.g., antimony metal or
crude antimony oxide)
K178 Solids from manufacturing and manufacturing-site storage
of ferric chloride from acids formed during the production of
titanium dioxide using the chloride-ilmenite process.
The rule also includes the final "no list" determinations made for the
remaining 171 wastestreams evaluated for the rule.
As part of the rule, EPA is adding the following constituents to
Appendix VII of 40 CFR 261 because these constituents serve as the
basis for new listings and can pose hazards to human health and the
environment: arsenic and lead (K176), antimony (K177), and thallium
(K178).
Two of the newly listed wastes (K176 and K177) are being issued
under the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) to
RCRA. This means that the federal government will implement the
regulations until the states are authorized for the new listings. The
effective date for the HSWA listings is six months after the date
of publication. The remaining newly listed waste (K178) is being
issued under a non-HSWA provision of RCRA. Therefore, the K178
will become effective on a state-by-state basis as states adopt and
then are authorized for the K178 listing.
For More Information
The Federal Register notice, this fact sheet, and related documents
are available on the Internet at